The death of a loved one is usually a time of great sadness and uncertainty. It is a time filled with lots of emotions, making many arrangements to pay honour to the deceased and having to plan for an uncertain future. Very often one of the most important steps is completely omitted or avoided intentionally. This the administration of the person’s estate.

This process involves reporting the death to the Master of the High Court, obtaining the Master’s appointment of the representative or executor of the deceased’s estate and performing the necessary duties in order to distribute the estate. These duties include placing the necessary advertisements to alert debtors and creditors of the estate to the death of the deceased, drawing up the liquidation and distribution account and advertising this account, on top of the necessary correspondence with the Master’s office. This process requires sufficient knowledge of the legal processes involved as well as standing with and knowledge of the inner workings of the office of the Master. At James Rustin and Associates we can assist you in this time of change and uncertainty by performing all these duties.

We have assisted many beneficiaries of people who died intestate (without a legal will) with this process in the past, as well as people appointed as executor in the deceased’s estate where the person did have a legal will when they died. We are ideally positioned to assist with any property transfers stemming from the deceased’s death, as we have Conveyancers in our Network as well.

Please phone us today to obtain an estimate of the costs involved in the administration of an estate, and let us take the worry off your mind.